The two factions of La Quinta Estacion, confronted by their musical legacy

The members of the two-thousander band La Quinta Estación have been in a tug-of-war for custody of the name since before its dissolution in 2010. This time, the trigger for the conflict was the creation of the Cinco Estaciones group by two of its former members. “We do not feel comfortable in the middle of a war,” they say

Two do not fight if one does not want to. Although old, the saying is applicable to marriages, friendships, co-workers and even bands. When the bases of the conflict are laid by one party, the other can try to come out of it with clean hands or prepare their fists for combat. But, let them tell youths or The Ear of Van Gogh. The members of the group Cinco Estaciones, Pablo Domnguez, Sven Martín and Karito Volpe, are clear that, in the face of a painful breakup, “the best remedy will always be songs.” It is the only thing that lasts. And the only thing that matters. “We don’t feel comfortable in the middle of a war,” they say.

The name of the formation five seasonsevokes the homonymous song released by the fifth station in 2002 as part of his recording debut, first take. It is not something casual: Martín and Domnguez were two of the founding members of the group who achieved international success in the early 2000s with songs like I’m dying, the sun doesn’t come back and your worst mistake of which they are co-authors.

Actually, the two of them are celebrating together with Karito the good reception of their first single, Why do I insist on loving youwhose video exceeds 400,000 views on YouTube in just two weeks. It has caused a furore on the networks, hundreds of messages arrive daily from all over the world and it has been a redemptive opportunity for Karito, an Argentine singer who had already thought about leaving music because “everything is very hard there”. Receiving a message from Messenger with the proposal from Pablo and Sven on his birthday was “beautiful, like a gift from heaven.” Anyone would say that it was a poisoned gift, because the reason why Cinco Estaciones has been accumulating headlines since last month is quite another.

Natalia Jimenez, former lead singer of La Quinta Estación, denounced on February 26 the “illegal use of his past in the band” as a promotional weapon. She did it through a release addressed to his fans on Instagram and Twitter, where he showed a document from the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. This, he claimed, served as proof that Martín and Domnguez had recently requested ownership of the name La Quinta Estación, in a new attempt to gain it after the dissolution of the group in 2010.

La Madrid warned, very angry, that the new formation was trying to confuse “both businessmen and the public, posing as La Quinta Estación”. She also complained in the video that the “fraudulent promotional strategy” of Five Seasons had boycotted the surprise of his return to the stage together with guitarist Ángel Reyero in 2024. “We are the sole owners of the brand and the name of La Quinta, and we will be back with you next year,” he announced.

As Natalia Jimnez recalled, it is not the first time that The matter of the La Quinta Estación trademark reaches the courts, although Martin prefers not to talk about it. “It is a closed chapter. Justice will know what it has to do.” In 2009, the guitarist filed a lawsuit against Jimnez and Reyero for using the group’s trademark, which he had registered in his name, but lost the lawsuit. “It’s incredible how low people fall for money,” Jimnez declared at the time. Now, the singer’s complaint comes to them like a boomerang. This is touring the United States and Latin America with his tour Anthology: 20 yearsand his team management She has decided that the best thing for her right now is to focus on her career and not give interviews in Europe.

Domnguez, Martín and Volpe, on the other hand, are grateful that the media give them a voice to explain their version. They say they have received hate and threats from strangers on social networks after the “bad publicity” generated by the Jimnez “attack”, which managed to divide even the former followers of the group. Their families, explains the bassist, “have come to have a really bad time, when all we want is to enjoy the new project.”

Tour of Spain and Latin America, summer performances and a first album on the horizon with which they seek strengthen their brand in the Hispanic music scene. They will continue to play all of La Quinta’s hits, Cinco Estaciones originals, and covers by other artists, in order to reach an intergenerational audience. “This has started very well despite everything, but we don’t know how to continue,” says Martín. They, for now, have the hatchet well buried.

Born in Madrid as a sextet, only Domnguez (bass) and Martn (guitar) remained at La Quinta Estación before signing Natalia Jimnez (vocals) and Ángel Reyero (guitar). Their chemistry and talent soon landed them a contract with a multinational in Mexico that boosted their future as a group. After the abrupt departure of Martín and Domnguez in 2003 and 2008, respectively, they dedicated themselves to the hotel business and production. amateur, without ever losing the connection with the music. The former “was forced to leave the train at the first stop”, re; the second did it later, when the album the world is wrong he had already garnered the occasional Latin Grammy.

Two decades later, the members of La Quinta Estacion find themselves divided by controversy. Both parties defend their 50 percent of the name and brand. “There is room for everyone, at no time did we think that this could be so problematic. we just want to make musicwithout abandoning our rock essence with mariachi sounds”, affirms Martn. The music industry has evolved in the last 15 years and their songs have acquired maturity and depth. They intend to demonstrate it with what is to come. Although Why do I insist on loving you It sounds, and a lot, like La Quinta brought to 2023, something is very clear in his speech: Karito joins as a vocalist, not as a substitute. “I am not a new signing nor do I think there is room for comparisons,” Volpe settles, still smiling.

Before creating Cinco Estaciones, the bassist contacted his former colleagues several times to ask them about the return of La Quinta Estacion. The last one, in the middle of the pandemic. But the answers were always negative, even when the record company, Sony, kept reissuing compilation albums with the image of Pablo Domnguez and Sven Martínez, without ever requesting their permission.

“We are original members of La Quinta, it is a fact, we cannot erase it from our resumes nor do we want to. But this is a brand new project in which we have been working with Karito for more than a year, and we are not tarot readers or fortune tellers to intuit what they were up to”, explains Domnguez. The Argentine insists all the time that it is “something created from love, with zero bad vibes.” “We we don’t live in conflict, but in our rehearsal room, in our recording studio. We hope to overcome something so harmful and absurd as soon as possible”, sums up the bassist.